Hot Air Balloons Up Close and Personal

Back home in Corrales, New Mexico, we watched the hot air balloon ascension from the house one sunny, clear morning and the prevailing winds took them right overhead. Balloons were everywhere and several landed nearby. One actually landed in the cul-de-sac right at the bottom of the driveway! We were kept busy running around the yard watching with binoculars and were treated by the chance to meet the crew of this beautiful balloon. Landings are tricky, the crew has to pick a site where fences, trees, and power lines will not impede the fragile balloon. That day two crew members were burned when their balloon tangled in power lines on the hillside above the house. Balloonists travel from all over the United States to participate in this annual event, over 500 balloons were present this year. I really enjoyed my week at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta!

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Niebrugge Studio

Meet Gail Niebrugge

Gail Niebrugge (Knee-brew-ghe) born and raised in California has pursued art since childhood, winning a poster contest on the Johnny Jet television show at the age of twelve. Gail began her career as an illustrator for the US Navy and Marines in San Diego, and later established the Instructional Media Center for the Grossmont High School District in La Mesa, California. The Niebrugge family fell in love with Alaska while on vacation in 1976 and never returned home, instead they established a residence and studio in the remote interior settlement of Copper Center where the artist painted the … [Read More...]

Wikipedia defines pointillism as; "a style of painting in which small distinct points of primary colors create the impression of a wide selection of secondary and intermediate colors." It goes on to say that the mind and the eye mix the color spots into a full range of tones and that it is closely related to Divisionism. Divisionism was practiced by Georges Seurat during the Neo-Impressionism period. He broke his color into basic elements and painted very small and regular dots. His dots are carefully placed as to not touch each other, so the white under painted canvas shows around all of the dots.
I call my painting technique pointillism, but technically it is incorrect according to Wikipedia. The difference between my technique and true pointillism is that I use all … [Read More...]